Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Another election cycle and here we are ... voting for which one we think will do the most damage. Neither candidate is inspiring. Neither candidate is a Leader. So we are stuck looking at what they think they will do or can do for us. What a bunch of garbage. How depressing it is.

I long for the days of Reagan, where we were asked to be Americans... or JFK where we were asked not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. Now we stand at the altar of the candidates and ask for hand outs. GIMMIE GIMMIE. Oh how depressing. Oh how far we have come from what our founding fathers wanted for us.

If we look at the candidates through the prism of which could do the least damage the choice is simple. If we look at the candidates through the prism of which will do the most for the country the choice is less simple. If we look at the candidates through the prism of which will really lead us there is no choice, they both are useless.

Barak Obama and the Democrats propose:

1. Single Payer Health care (The Federal Government runs it)2. Allowing Unions to run rampant3. More government spending4. Rapid pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan5. More contact with Arab nations and less with Israel6. Tax rebates to those who do not pay taxes

John McCain and the Republicans propose:1. Privatize Social Security2. More of the same in Iraq3. Health Care credits4. Ongoing tax cuts5. Spending cuts in government

Whom do you choose? Who will do less damage?

At what point to we stand up for revolution as we look towards the long term? When are we going to realize, as an American People, that we have given too much control of our lives to the Government?

Monday, October 27, 2008

I don't normally stop and watch 60 minutes but they had a great article on "The Pickens Plan" which I am a huge supporter of and just like T. Boone and his capitalistic nature :D... They then had and article from Steve Kroft about a little known bill that Congress passed UNANIMOUSLY and the "great" Bill Clinton signed into law as a Lame Duck president in 2000 known as "Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000." Here is some of the interesting facts:

It not only removed derivatives and credit default swaps from the purview of federal oversight, on page 262 of the legislation, Congress pre-empted the states from enforcing existing gambling and bucket shop laws against Wall Street.

"It makes it sound like they knew it was illegal," Kroft remarks.

"I would agree," Dinallo says. "They did know it was illegal. Or at least prosecutable."

In retrospect, giving Wall Street immunity from state gambling laws and legalizing activity that had been banned for most of the 20th century should have given lawmakers pause, but on the last day and the last vote of the lame duck 106th Congress, Wall Street got what it wanted when the Senate passed the bill unanimously.

So we have the ability to gamble on stocks... which results in...

They didn't know what was going on in part because credit default swaps were totally unregulated. No one knew how many there were or who owned them. There was no central exchange or clearing house to keep track of all the bets and to hold the money to make sure they got paid off. Eventually, savvy investors figured out that the cheapest, most effective way to bet against the entire housing market was to buy credit defaults swaps, in effect taking out inexpensive insurance policies that would pay off big when other people’s mortgage investments went south.

Guess who insured those bets?

AIGGoldman SachsLehmen Brothers

And Congress...

Congress now seems shocked and outraged by the consequences of its decision eight years ago to effectively deregulate swaps and derivatives. Various members of the House and Senate have hauled in the usual suspects to accept or share the blame.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A GREAT article in the International Herald Tribune can be found here. It shows that if America becomes energy independent or less reliant on foreign oil we can continue to drive the political - economic agenda of the world. If we remain where we are we risk no longer being a true 'super power'. This article is well written and very thoughtful.

If we bring our own oil fields online, get off the use of oil altogether and become self sufficient we will again be a force to be recognized on the global stage. It will require sacrifice... for long term gain. It will require Americans to regain their rugged individualism. It will mean things will get worse before they get better...

No matter who get's elected on November 4th, 2008 to the Presidency, we need a LEADER who can take us down the right path. Not one who promises to solve our problems in our wallets with short term fixes, but who can lead us to a REAL and sustainable future that involves America being a land of the Free, Brave and Proud.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

When Barack Obama decided to campaign on Joe Wurzelbacher's street, he provided Joe the opportunity to ask an honest question. As it turns out, Joe asked a question that was personal to him and his situation, but it spoke loudly to the intent of Obama's tax plan. Obama would like to ensure that we, "spread the wealth around" and help all those Americans that are still working their way up to being successful.

As you can see in the video clip, Joe never said that he made over $250,000 a year. He said he wanted to buy a business that makes over $250,000 a year. Yet Obama and Biden are now taking the opportunity to make fun of and ridicule this American with an honest question by insinuating that he somehow does not speak for everyday people. And by the way Barack, what would be wrong with a plumber making over $250,000? By your tone and your jeering crowd, you make it sound like being successful through hard work is a bad thing. Would you prefer our nation just sit around with our hands out waiting for the great government to "spread the wealth around"? Oh wait, I guess you would as that is the heart of socialism. The only problem with that philosophy is that in that scenario, there would be no wealth to spread around because a country of government dependent citizens would have no wealth to spread. Welcome to China.

And Senator McCain, I'm furious with you. Why, in the last debate when Barack said he was giving 95% of Americans a tax cut, did you not turn to him and say that 38% of Americans pay no tax at all? I just heard you say that yesterday, which means you knew the facts and just didn't respond correctly. You missed your chance to speak to the Obama kool aid drinkers who believe everything he says as gospel.

How do you give people a break or cut on something they don't pay? The answer is, you can't. Giving a check to the 38% that don't pay income taxes is welfare and points our country down the path to socialism.

Senator McCain, this is your election to loose. Stop being politically correct and polite to someone who is lying to the American people. As you asked us to do at the Republican convention, "Stand Up And Fight". Fight Senator! Fight for all of us who love this country for the freedom and opportunity that it provides. Fight for our right to limited government as the Founders intended. Fight for our right not to have an inexperienced socialist as our President. Fight for our right to pursue success through capitalism and not to have OUR hard earned wealth "spread around".

(the full SNL skit is longer, if someone has a link to the entire,uncensored skit, please let me know as its important to find a non-foxlink. YouTube had the longer skit but it's gone as well! Good to seesuch unfettered political speech...)

BTW, the Sandler's gave over $2M to the Cntr. for American Progress,whom the author of the business week article that is floating aroundregarding CRA seems to have a very high opinion of...

FWIW, which is little on several counts, I'll vent some of my ownopinions...

1) I don't find the platitude that there's plenty of blame to go aroundvery helpful. Individuals got us into this mess and they should behunted down like the dogs that they are. A thug with a gun couldn't oftaken this much money from us - but he would be jailed!2) Put aside the party politics. It doesn't matter if it was 2republicans and 10 democrats or 2 democrats and 10 republicans. When youdefend the party you protect the guilty by blurring the issue. Hunt thedogs down regardless of party.3) Understanding the how's and why's are critical going forward.Decisions were made that need to be reversed and avoided!4) I'm a conservative and am not a party loyalist - so don't make themistake and assume that I am. To me, being a party loyalist sends adangerous signal that politicians can do what they want and I'll stillsupport them...

Bottom line, as they said after 9/11, let's connect the dots...

... here's my developing understanding, at this point in time, of howFreddie Mac and Fannie Mae played their part in this mess:

1) CRA was designed to operate below the radar and provide a welfarealternative by having strong borrowers subsidize weak borrowers2) Banks cooperated to a reasonable extent by balancing the loan riskwith political risk (i.e. activists attacks) - this minimizes the impactof CRA3) Activists realized CRA was limited in effectiveness and petitionedcongress to enable Freddie and Fannie to loosen their standards. It's myunderstanding the they ultimately were leveraged 80 to 1!4) With ready, Government sponsored buyers (Freddie and Fannie), banks,the Sandlers, et.al., wrote and sold the sub-prime loans. The door forreckless profiteering was wide open. NOTE: the fact that greedyprofiteers exploited the opportunity DOES NOT ABSOLVE THE POLITICIANSTHAT SET THIS UP!5) Oh yeah, lets not forget that the increased supply of mortgage loansincreased the demand for homes, which inflated the prices of homes,which ultimately made the resulting mortgages even riskier and acorrection even more painful. Add to that other people taking out homeequity loans based on the artificially increased value in their homes5) Freddie and Fannie then packaged up the sub-prime crap with goodstuff and sold it off as Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) orCollateralized Mortgage Obligations (CMO) . These do end up in CDOs thatyou've heard about...6) NOW, get a ton of these sub-prime mortgages out in the market (alongwith other business that probably have too much financial leverage), andyou have a credit situation that is very sensitive to adverse changes inthe economy. Now, increase interest rates and commodity prices, and adda slowing economy to the mix... then watch the defaults hit the floor.

So why didn't the republicans fight harder to reign in Freddie andFannie? Certainly the CRA/Freddie/Fannie system was a democrat submarinefor social welfare so we know why they fought against reigning them in.Could it be that a compromise was reached? Lax lending standards forall?

Monday, October 06, 2008

Senator McCain, if Barack wants to turn this election on the economy, take the fight to him.

Barack is going to raise taxes on EVERYONE - not just those making over $250,000

Higher taxes will send us straight through recession into depression

Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are significantly responsible for the current mortgage mess

Health care for everyone is a marvelous idea - who's going to pay for it?

Who generates the most jobs in America? Small Business. Who's going to get hit the hardest with increased taxes? Small Business. Who's going fire all of the low wage earning workers and increase unemployment? Small Business. Who's never run a business in his life? Barack Obama.

What's the worst thing you can do in a struggling economy? Raise Taxes.

When Barack says your $5,000 medical plan tax credit will be taxed, say yeah, it will. However, most Americans taking the $5,000 taxable plan are either not paying taxes at all or paying at 15 percent. So $0 - $750 is not bad for a $5,000 medical plan.

You can't give people who don't pay taxes a tax break - that's called welfare, income redistribution, and Socialism.

Swing John swing. Get mad and let the American people know that they are being lead down a path of dishonesty and manipulation in the name of diversity.

I here so many people say that they are voting for Obama because of Change. I ask "What Change" and they typically say something like 'the Government'. When pressed they start to accuse me of not voting for Obama because he is black.

?!What?!

No. I have stated over and over again, even when the nomination was stolen from Hillary that it's about Socialism vs. Capitalism (IMHO) and it is never about anything more than that.

This is not an election to confirm that we have put the sins of slavery and race behind us. Race should not matter to us anymore (although people keep bringing it up!) It should be about qualifications, about ideas, about what can be done with our country, about returning to rugged individualism. I long for a leader like Reagan who challenged us (Americans) to be better. Or JFK who challenged us to be better. Not a leader who challenges us by looking at the polls, or by fear mongering.

Saturday, October 04, 2008

This video is worth 10 minutes of your time. Make an investment in your future and watch.Burning Down the HouseIf you don't learn from the mistakes in history, you are bound to repeat them. Not my quote, but...##That's my opinion##

Friday, October 03, 2008

WAKE UP SHEEPLE! WAKE UP AMERICA!THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOES NOT RUN ANYTHING WELL!

I feel like standing on a hilltop and shouting. The IDEA of the Federal Government running anything else make me want to VOMIT! GET off the subject of Federalized Health Care. The President may be able to influence it, but Congress has to make it happen. Have we all forgotten about the three BRANCHES of government.

And that brings up two other points:

The Bailout with earmarks galore. Come on! We are surrendering out rights to the Federal Government OVER AND OVER again. They will OWN more property in the US. Those who made stupid mistakes in banking are getting their mistakes REWARDED. What are we doing?

Federal Emergency Aid for 'victims' of Tropical Storms / Hurricanes is the most asinine thing I have ever heard of. At the risk of sounding heartless... I HAVE INSURANCE... and don't expect the Feds to come to MY rescue, why should they come to the 'rescue' of anyone else?

We have become a people who are looking for somebody else to take the blame, to bail us out for our own mistakes... yet we keep getting more and more credit, we keep over extending ourselves. WAKE UP people... You are stuck in the Matrix.